Republic of Indonesia

The capital:             Jakarta

The inhabitants enumerated:             231,328,092 breath of air (estimate of July 2002)

The language:             The Indonesian (the official language). There obstacles 300 language and accent

The sweat:             [jaawy], [maadwraa], Malaya, stay over you, [aatshyh], [bwGys]. There also protected, Hind, Arabic and Europe 

The climate:             Tropical

Regime of the governing:             The republican

The economy                        

- the currency:             Rupee

- [aalmwaaryd]:             The forest - solid wood from [Saaj], ebony, oil, natural gas and tin

The religion:             The Islam (87%), Christ (9%), the Buddhist (1%) and the Hindu

History

By the time of the Renaissance, the islands of Java and Sumatra had already enjoyed a 1,000-year heritage of advanced civilization spanning two major empires. During the 7th-14th centuries, the Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya flourished on Sumatra. At its peak, the Srivijaya Empire reached as far as West Java and the Malay Peninsula. Also by the 14th century, the Hindu Kingdom of Majapahit had risen in eastern Java. Gadjah Mada, the empire's chief minister from 1331 to 1364, succeeded in gaining allegiance from most of what is now modern Indonesia and much of the Malay archipelago as well. Legacies from Gadjah Mada's time include a codification of law and an epic poem. 

Islam arrived in Indonesia sometime during the 12th century and, through assimilation, supplanted Hinduism by the end of the 16th century in Java and Sumatra. Bali, however, remains overwhelmingly Hindu. In the eastern archipelago, both Christian and Islamic proselytizing took place in the 16th and 17th centuries and, currently, there are large communities of both religions on these islands. 

Beginning in 1602, the Dutch slowly established themselves as rulers of present-day Indonesia, exploiting the weakness of the small kingdoms that had replaced that of Majapahit. The only exception was East Timor which remained under Portugal until 1975. During 300 years of Dutch rule, the Dutch developed the Netherlands East Indies into one of the world's richest colonial possessions. 

During the first decade of this century, an Indonesian independence movement began and expanded rapidly, particularly between the two World Wars. Its leaders came from a small group of young professionals and students, some of whom had been educated in the Netherlands. Many, including Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, were imprisoned for political activities. 

The Japanese occupied Indonesia for 3 years during World War II and, for their own purposes, encouraged the nationalist movement. Many Indonesians took up positions in the civil administration that had been closed to all but token rulers under the Dutch. On August 17, 1945, 3 days after the Japanese surrender to the Allies, a small group of Indonesians, led by Sukarno -- the country's first truly national figure and first president (1945-1967) -- proclaimed independence and established the Republic of Indonesia. Dutch efforts to reestablish complete control met strong resistance. After 4 years of warfare and negotiations, the Dutch transferred sovereignty to a federal Indonesian Government. In 1950, Indonesia became the 60th member of the United Nations. 

Shortly after hostilities with the Dutch ended in 1949, Indonesia adopted a new constitution providing for a parliamentary system of government in which the executive was chosen by and made responsible to parliament. Parliament was divided among many political parties before and after the country's first nationwide election in 1955, and stable governmental coalitions were difficult to achieve. 

At the time of independence, the Dutch retained control over the western half of New Guinea, known as Irian Jaya. Negotiations with the Dutch on the incorporation of West Irian into Indonesia failed, and armed clashes broke out between Indonesian and Dutch troops in 1961. In August 1962, the two sides reached an agreement, and Indonesia assumed administrative responsibility for Irian Jaya on May 1, 1963. An Act of Free Choice, held in Irian Jaya under UN supervision in 1969, confirmed the transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia. 

From 1524 to 1975, East Timor was a Portuguese colony on the island of Timor, separated from Australia's north coast by the Timor Sea. As a result of political events in Portugal, Portuguese authorities abruptly withdrew from Timor in 1975, exacerbating power struggles among several Timorese political factions. An avowedly Marxist faction called "Fretilin" achieved military superiority. Fretilin's ascent in an area contiguous to Indonesian territory alarmed the Indonesian Government, which regarded it as a threatening movement. Following appeals from some of Fretilin's Timorese opponents, Indonesian military forces intervened in East Timor and overcame Fretilin's regular forces in 1975-1976. Small-scale guerrilla activity persists to this day. Indonesia declared East Timor its 27th province in 1976. 

Unsuccessful rebellions on Sumatra, Sulawesi, and other islands beginning in 1958 plus a long succession of short-lived national governments weakened the parliamentary system. Consequently, in 1959, when President Sukarno revived the 1945 constitution, which gave broad presidential powers, he met little resistance. 

From 1956 to 1965, President Sukarno imposed an authoritarian regime under the label of "Guided Democracy." He also moved Indonesia's foreign policy toward nonalignment. Advocated by the leaders of other former colonies, these nonaligned countries were founders of what became known as the Non-Aligned Movement. President Sukarno closely worked with Asian communist states and increasingly tilted toward the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in domestic affairs. 

By 1965, the PKI controlled many of the mass organizations that Sukarno had established to mobilize support for his regime and, with Sukarno's acquiescence, embarked on a campaign to establish a "fifth armed force" by arming its supporters. Army leaders resisted this campaign. On October 1, 1965, PKI sympathizers within the military, including elements from Sukarno's palace guards, occupied key locations in Jakarta and kidnapped and murdered six senior generals. 

The army executed the coup plotters within a few days, but unsettled conditions persisted through 1966. Violence swept throughout Indonesia. Rightist gangs killed tens of thousands of alleged communists in rural areas. Estimates of the number of deaths range between 160,000 and 500,000. The violence was especially brutal in Java and Bali. The emotions and fears of instability created by this crisis persist. 

In the aftermath, President Sukarno vainly attempted to restore his political position and shift the country back to its pre-October 1965 position. Although he remained president, in March 1966, Sukarno had to transfer key political and military powers to General Soeharto, the general who rallied the military to defeat the coup attempt. In March 1967, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) named General Soeharto acting president. Sukarno ceased to be a political force and lived quietly until his death in 1970. 

President Soeharto proclaimed a "New Order" in Indonesian politics and dramatically shifted foreign and domestic policies away from the course set in Sukarno's final years. The New Order established economic rehabilitation and development as its primary goals and pursued its policies through an administrative structure dominated by the military but with advice from Western-educated economic experts. 

In 1968, the MPR formally selected Soeharto to a full 5-year term as President, and he was reelected to additional 5-year terms in 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, and 1993. In the midst of a severe drought, dropping world petroleum prices, regional financial instability and increasing social unrest, Soeharto was again re-elected as President in March 1998. 

A plummeting rupiah, soaring inflation, massive capital flight, widespread corruption and nepotism continued to exacerbate Indonesia's economic and political turmoil. In a series of demonstrations led first by students, the Indonesian people called for President Soeharto's resignation. Widespread civil unrest, rioting and public pressure led Soeharto to resign in May 1998. Upon his resignation, Soeharto handed power to his handpicked Vice President, B.J. Habibie. 

President Habibie quickly distanced himself from his predecessor's authoritarian "New Order" regime. He moved quickly to assemble a cabinet with a strong economic team; released a number of prominent political dissidents; initiated an investigation into those responsible for the rioting and looting; and lifted controls on the press, political parties, and labor unions. Habibie pledged to rewrite the political laws and hold elections. A preliminary timeline calls for parliamentary elections in mid-1999 followed by Parliament's selection of a President in December 1999. 

On 30 August 1999 a provincial referendum for independence was overwhelmingly approved by the people of Timor Timur. Concurrence followed by Indonesia's national legislature, and the name East Timor was provisionally adopted. The independent status of East Timor has yet to be formally established.